It 's a truth of warfare in the digital era : Bullets and bombs often are augmented by status updates and tweets .

The bloody conflict taking place in Iraq is no different . And Islamic State of Iraq and Syria , or ISIS , a terror group so extreme that al Qaeda has denounced it , is taking the lead with a social media propaganda war the likes of which has never been seen .

From recruiting fighters to spreading word of their violent attacks , ISIS is taking to the Web in what analysts say is a more sophisticated manner than previous combatants .

Perhaps as a result , Iraqis have been reporting widespread outages of social sites , a common refrain during recent unrest in the Middle East and elsewhere .

CNN 's Nick Paton-Walsh in Turkey interviewed a defector from ISIS who said he used to recruit Westerners for the cause through direct messages on Twitter .

Opinion : Will ISIS brutality backfire ?

`` There was special treatment for the Europeans . One British guy said he was called Ibrahim , then told me he was from Manchester , '' said the man , who said he left the movement after it killed two of his relatives . `` One asked my boss if he should fight in his own country or come to Syria . He was told , ` If God does n't give you martyrdom in Syria , ' then he could wage war in his own country . ''

The man , now in hiding , said he was part of a team that ran an online chat welcoming new recruits to ISIS .

`` There are things I am allowed to answer and things I must ask my supervisor about , '' he said . `` Specific questions about religion -- I have to get their permission to message anyone . I ca n't talk on Skype . Everything is written down so they can monitor everything . ''

As the Islamist group 's fight has moved from Syria to Iraq , that savvy Web strategy has expanded to include online video posts much slicker than the grainy , shaky clips that have popped up from al Qaeda and other terror groups .

Recently , a slickly produced , hourlong ISIS video titled `` The Clanging of the Swords '' surfaced , showcasing killings , roadside bombings and other acts of terror for which ISIS claimed credit .

The video vividly displays these scenes in a style reminiscent of Hollywood efforts like `` The Hurt Locker '' and `` Zero Dark Thirty , '' complete with elaborate aerial shots .

`` This is funded , '' said Nadia Oweidat , a Middle East analyst . `` This is geopolitics . There is money behind it . It 's not just idiots ; these idiots have somebody controlling them and providing them with equipment that is very expensive . You ca n't just get it in a cave . ''

On another front , at least one analyst says ISIS was recently using a mobile app made available in Google 's Play Store to inflate its presence on social media . Called The Dawn of Glad Tidings , or just Dawn , the app was promoted as a way to keep up to date with news from ISIS . According to J.M. Berger , editor of national-security blog IntelWire , the Dawn app would post updates to users ' Twitter feeds .

By midafternoon Tuesday , Google appeared to have removed the app from its store . Google did not immediately reply to a message seeking comment for this story .

With the digital assault accompanying a ground offensive that saw ISIS fighting Tuesday just 40 miles north of Baghdad in the city of Baquba , access to social media has been disappearing across much of Iraq .

There has been no confirmation that the Iraqi government is behind a blackout . But both Facebook and Twitter have reported a precipitous drop in the number of people in Iraq using their products in the past few days .

`` Users in #Iraq are reporting issues accessing our service . We 're investigating their reports and we hope service will be restored quickly , '' Twitter said on its global policy team 's account Friday .

Facebook has issued a similar statement .

`` We are disturbed by reports of access issues in Iraq and are investigating . Limiting access to Internet services -- essential for communication and commerce for millions of people -- is a matter of concern for the global community , '' read a Facebook statement sent to CNN .

Facebook 's internal numbers show that , since June 12 , the volume of visits to its site and apps were as low as 30 % of their normal volume in Iraq . There are no technical problems on its end , Facebook said .

Web software firm Akamai reports that visits to Twitter in Iraq dramatically plummeted early Saturday . A Twitter spokesman said its internal traffic reports mirror Akamai 's .

Iraqis have increasingly turned to Whisper , a mobile app that lets users post anonymous images , in an apparent effort to get around the social-media issues . Neetzan Zimmerman , Whisper 's editor in chief , told CNNMoney that Whisper usage in Iraq more than doubled between June 12 and June 15 .

During Arab Spring uprisings in places like Egypt and Iran , as well as more recent conflicts in places like Syria , unrest has been met with Internet outages and the blocking of social media sites . In virtually all cases , the opposition has accused sitting governments , who control their nation 's Internet infrastructure , of blocking access to make coordination more difficult and keep news of the conflicts from spreading .

MAPS : Crisis in Iraq

@highlight

A well-orchestrated social media war is accompanying fighting in Iraq

@highlight

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria recruits terror fighters on Twitter

@highlight

Online videos showing group 's attacks are glossy , high-quality

@highlight

Google appears to have banned app used by ISIS to spread news